I actually came to ask just that. I'm trying to store a new season of a TV show I haven't caught up with on my PC until I'm ready to watch but episode 1 is cutting off after transferring 200MB. I'll try a TS download. I can still send that back to my Tivo using PyTivo, right?

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I'm able to download the full file in TS (it hangs at the 200mb mark but then continues), but decryption won't work and I can't get the .Tivo file back on my Tivo using PyTivo. So I guess if you have a download that doesn't work you're just sorta screwed?

I'm able to download the full file in TS (it hangs at the 200mb mark but then continues), but decryption won't work and I can't get the .Tivo file back on my Tivo using PyTivo. So I guess if you have a download that doesn't work you're just sorta screwed?

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You should be able to use pyTivo to transfer back TS .TiVo files. It's likely you have an old version of pyTivo which is why that is not working - update to latest wmcbrine version and it should work.

You should be able to use pyTivo to transfer back TS .TiVo files. It's likely you have an old version of pyTivo which is why that is not working - update to latest wmcbrine version and it should work.

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I just downloaded pyTivo the other week. When I try to pull the .Tivo file the Tivo says "Transferring prohibited by the copyright holder." I'm not sure why because KMTTG otherwise lets me download and decode said video (although the download quits early). If I try to push the file I get an "unsupported operand type(s) for /: 'str' and 'int'" in pyTivo.

I just downloaded pyTivo the other week. When I try to pull the .Tivo file the Tivo says "Transferring prohibited by the copyright holder." I'm not sure why because KMTTG otherwise lets me download and decode said video (although the download quits early). If I try to push the file I get an "unsupported operand type(s) for /: 'str' and 'int'" in pyTivo.

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pyTivo pull should work without trouble.
Probably should move this discussion to the pyTivo thread, but how did you install pyTivo? If you used the Windows installer that version is horribly outdated and should not be used. Follow Windows_Install instructions for a Windows install.

pyTivo pull should work without trouble.
Probably should move this discussion to the pyTivo thread, but how did you install pyTivo? If you used the Windows installer that version is horribly outdated and should not be used. Follow Windows_Install instructions for a Windows install.

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I installed following the windows install instructions (I didn't even know there was a windows installer) and then pointed everything to the correct directory and used the KMTTG components. The transport stream problem is really a secondary concern of mine (since I'm only using it to get a show that fails to download) so I'll post over in the pyTivo forum. The main issue I posted here was why I couldn't transfer mp4 files using pyTivo. I thought it may have been an encoding issue, but it plays fine on my PC...so perhaps that is also a pyTivo issue (although I can transfer mpg and mp4 files encoded with ff_ipad no problem)

I installed following the windows install instructions (I didn't even know there was a windows installer) and then pointed everything to the correct directory and used the KMTTG components. The transport stream problem is really a secondary concern of mine (since I'm only using it to get a show that fails to download) so I'll post over in the pyTivo forum. The main issue I posted here was why I couldn't transfer mp4 files using pyTivo. I thought it may have been an encoding issue, but it plays fine on my PC...so perhaps that is also a pyTivo issue (although I can transfer mpg and mp4 files encoded with ff_ipad no problem)

Thanks for that. I followed the instructions but when I try to start the service I get an error: logon failure. I'm really shooting blind here. I typed Administrator in the "This account" box and filled in my admin password but no go.
Any ideas?

Thanks for that. I followed the instructions but when I try to start the service I get an error: logon failure. I'm really shooting blind here. I typed Administrator in the "This account" box and filled in my admin password but no go.
Any ideas?

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The kmttg service login should be your normal Windows login account name, not "Administrator".

You can emulate an MRV transfer to your PC by adding the following formatting to the URL (which is what MRV transfers between 2 TiVos uses):
&Format=video%2Fx-tivo-raw-tts

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Possibly a dumb question, but: if you can successfully emulate an MRV transfer then wouldn't this also work to transfer shows that are "protected" with the CCI Byte problem? Just MRV it instead of TTG'ing it?

Possibly a dumb question, but: if you can successfully emulate an MRV transfer then wouldn't this also work to transfer shows that are "protected" with the CCI Byte problem? Just MRV it instead of TTG'ing it?

TTG transfers are quite CPU intensive because they require decrypt/demux/remux/encrypt and some glitches in the recording probably break the demux/remux parts. You can emulate an MRV transfer to your PC by adding the following formatting to the URL (which is what MRV transfers between 2 TiVos uses):
&Format=video%2Fx-tivo-raw-tts
Don't know for sure but it's likely with that format you are avoiding at least demux/remux if not decrypt/encrypt as well, so glitches in the recording won't affect anything. You can probably try the above and see that transfer to your computer will succeed in that format, but it's academic because good luck figuring out how to decrypt the resulting file...

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Can you download these and then transfer them *back* to the Tivo for watching? i.e. just to offload them.

Sorry for another repeat -- I have sort of the same question for .Tivo files in PS format. I tried doing that a week or two ago, but it didn't show up on the Tivo when I browsed my Tivo when running pyTivo on my computer.

Can you download these and then transfer them *back* to the Tivo for watching? i.e. just to offload them.

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If someone figured out how to emulate a TiVo on the PC side, sure, but AFAIK that hasn't been done. (MRV is initiated as a pull, so a TiVo would have to think the PC is another TiVo for it to be possible). If you mean just transfer them back as if they were a normal .TiVo file, no, that doesn't work.

Sorry for another repeat -- I have sort of the same question for .Tivo files in PS format. I tried doing that a week or two ago, but it didn't show up on the Tivo when I browsed my Tivo when running pyTivo on my computer.

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More relevant question for pyTivo thread, but all .TiVo files (PS or TS) can be served up by pyTivo, so not sure why some seem to be having issues with that.

pyTivo can send back both PS and TS .TiVo files (via pulls -- pushes require decryption). pyTivo uses FFmpeg on .TiVo files, as on other files, to check resolution, duration, etc. Sometimes, this process fails, in which case the file is marked with the copy prohibited symbol, as with any failure at this stage. If you really want to ensure that .TiVo files pass through this stage, you can disable pyTivo's use of FFmpeg, and it will just blindly send anything with a ".TiVo" extension. I would instead suggest using a more current FFmpeg, which should handle .TiVo files better, although not necessarily (there have been regressions in the past). (Note that FFmpeg can't actually process the encrypted files, but it can (usually) read them well enough to collect the basic info, because .TiVo files aren't entirely encrypted.)

pyTivo uses FFmpeg on .TiVo files, as on other files, to check resolution, duration, etc. Sometimes, this process fails, in which case the file is marked with the copy prohibited symbol, as with any failure at this stage.

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OK, that explains it then. I used to use ffmpeg as well to examine .TiVo files in kmttg as well but got several reports of problems with that, so since have switched to use mediainfo CLI (kmttg Windows tool package includes binary for it) which works much more reliably on .TiVo files.

Today, I tried taking some HD files from my tivo premiere 4, decoded to mpg (tivodecode), and they looked and sounded fine.

I tried to use the ffmpeg tivo_hd, as recommended here as a test and the video is still fine, but the audio seems off about 1.5 seconds all the way through. If I use H.264 MP4 (A VRD encoder profile), it looks almost as good with sync'ed sound all through.

I did about 6 videos and they all did it

I seem to recall this problem before I got VRD, so is it known? I'm not doing anything special in the rocessing.

Today, I tried taking some HD files from my tivo premiere 4, decoded to mpg (tivodecode), and they looked and sounded fine.

I tried to use the ffmpeg tivo_hd, as recommended here as a test and the video is still fine, but the audio seems off about 1.5 seconds all the way through. If I use H.264 MP4 (A VRD encoder profile), it looks almost as good with sync'ed sound all through.

I did about 6 videos and they all did it

I seem to recall this problem before I got VRD, so is it known? I'm not doing anything special in the rocessing.

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Unless you run "QS Fix" step as part of the flow sync problems are quite common when re-encoding.